TIME FOR RORY TO STEP UP CHASE FOR GRAND SLAM
After his Open triumph last weekend, Jordan Spieth has taken the lead on Rory McIlroy in the hunt for a career Grand Slam
POSSIBLY the greatest stimulus for the next phase of Rory McIlroy’s career was the sight of Jordan Spieth posing for photos at Birkdale last Sunday evening with the Claret Jug in his hands. Had Open victory gone to the goofy, if likeable, Matt Kuchar, Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello, or Mr Li from China, McIlroy wouldn’t have turned a curl for he knows he has their number.
As for Spieth, that’s not so straightforward, because this cool, clean hero of golf looks the part, talks the part and also plays a mean game. Spieth is back where he was in the summer of 2015, a major winner opposing McIlroy for the title of golf’s global poster boy.
The two-ball are the most marketable figures in the sport, far more so than ‘aw shucks’ Dustin Johnson, the inscrutable Hideki Matsuyama, or square-shouldered basher, Brooks Koepka.
Just turned 24 on Thursday, Texan Spieth is not going to go away, yet his re-emergence may fire McIlroy with the motivation he needs to remind golf fans of his capabilities. Firstly, McIlroy must deny Spieth the Grand Slam at the US PGA the week after next and, secondly, he has to keep the distance between them in the major roll of honour – three years ago the gap was four, now it’s just one.
After the battle of Birkdale, the focus is on three mega-rich events, this week’s $9.75m WGC Bridgestone Invitational in the tyre city of Akron, Ohio, followed by the $10.5m US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, North Carolina.
After a break, the Fed-Ex Cup tees off, peaking in the $8.75m Tour Championship in East Lake, Atlanta on September 20-24. McIlroy, who has won twice at Quail Hollow on the regular PGA Tour, has also been victorious in each of these prestige tournaments before and needs to win one of them again to roar out a reminder to Spieth of his alpha male status in the ranks of pro golf.
‘Everyone wants to see Spieth and McIlroy go head to head now,’ said Raymie Burns, the former European Tour pro who followed McIlroy at Birkdale as an on-course radio analyst.
‘I was very fortunate that I watched Tiger Woods for 20 years. No one played golf like he did. He owned the golf course, he sold beers, he sold burgers, he sold golf.
‘Rory is the nearest to Tiger we’ve seen. I remember when he was behind on the 10th hole at US PGA a couple of years ago and he made eagle and went on to win,’ Burns continued.
‘Once his rivals see his name on the leader-board, they get worried. That’s what Rory needs to start doing again and he’ll take a lot of positives from Birkdale.’
After evidence of ring-rust at the Irish and Scottish Opens, a sharper McIlroy wasn’t far off the levels of excellence which sustained Spieth through four dramatic days in the Southport dunes.
McIlroy found more Birkdale fairways – 26 to 24 – than Spieth and also smashed the ball 25 yards further on average. On the greens, surprisingly, there was wasn’t much between them either, Spieth requiring 107 putts to McIlroy’s 112.
The one area where McIlroy must tighten up is his approach play as he hit eight fewer greens in regulation than Spieth. This was the key area of separation as he lost The Open by seven strokes. And Burns, the pro at Lisheen Springs in Dublin, believes the restrictions imposed on long practice sessions for McIlroy after his rib injury, may be a blessing.
‘Rory loves practising his strengths but maybe he’s got a chance now to practice weaknesses, not that he has many,’ he said.
‘If he can’t hit as many balls as he’d like, my advice would be to keep on top of your long game and to target areas of the game where you’re not using as much force, such as bunker play, wedges, putting. Roy’s actually a superb putter. His chipping is incredible, and his bunker play is phenomenal.’
Burns has an idea of what McIlroy is going through in terms of managing his ribs.
‘I slipped on top of a staircase in 2001, broke two wrists, and six ribs. The wrists don’t give me a lot of bother but the ribs, to this day, might affect me bending down a wee time.
‘Ribs are not easy to manage for professionals golfers. When you walk, when you swing a club, you feel it for a long time. There is rust when you get back in the ring. But they are used to playing with pain. Jack Nicklaus did it, Bobby Jones did it.’
For all that McIlroy enjoyed his highest finish in a major last Sunday since the 2015 Masters, Spieth’s success meant more in golf’s hierarchy. For starters, it ended a run of seven first-time major winners, stretching back to Jason Day in the 2015 US PGA.
It also lifted Spieth out of the bracket of active two-time major winners, Zach Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Bubba Watson and Angel Cabrera – good players, if not truly great ones. Spieth now has three majors on his CV, beating McIlroy to that mark by some 14 months. Victory has also put him in a position to join golf’s ‘Grand Slam’ club before McIlroy, who needs a green jacket to join the all-time legends, Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player and Woods. Three times McIlroy has teed up at Augusta seeking to complete the ‘Slam, only to fall short, finishing fourth, 10th and seventh, which has prompted Burns to make an observation. ‘I think if Rory wants to win the Masters he may have to go to California in January and play a couple of tournaments.I know he goes to the desert and to Dubai but he might need to look at his schedule if he wants to be fully prepared for Augusta.’
At 28, McIlroy is still a colt but professional golf ‘is a young man’s game’ according to Padraig Harrington and guys who win majors young rarely win past their mid 30s – Tiger’s last major was at 32, Seve Ballesteros was 31 and Tom Watson 33.
Only Jack Nicklaus, 46, Gary Player, 42, Sam Snead, 41, and Ben Hogan, 40, won after turning 40.
Walking 27 holes or so with McIlroy last week it was impossible not to make a few observations. Not only was he, by far, the most popular golfer on the links, he was also the quickest.
In a sport of slow coaches, such as Jason ‘All’ Day and Niclas ‘Notso’ Fasth, McIlroy could complete 18 holes with a pencil bag on his own in two and a half hours.
And his pace of play could be a problem should he partner Spieth next Sunday in the final two-ball at Firesteone or Sunday week in Quail Hollow, as Burns acknowledged.
‘A couple of years ago in the Masters, Rory and Spieth played together in the third round and Spieth was slow; he was miles behind and that might have annoyed Rory.
‘More than once I saw Rory at his ball, way ahead of Spieth waiting for him to play.’
In a metaphorical sense, Birkdale illustrated that McIlroy’s career has picked up pace again. He’s now competed in 10 majors since his 2014 USPGA win in Valhalla – it’s time to get a wriggle on.